Counter-cyclical journals, Redux

It’s December . . . do you know where your counter-cyclical journals are?

I realize that the conventional wisdom (as articulated, for example, by some yahoo a few years ago) is that “submitting an article in December is the functional equivalent of dropping it off a bridge.” But for every rule there is an exception. And so we asked this question six months ago, and we ask it again, now.

If you’re a journal editor and your journal is actively pursuing articles right now, please weigh in in the comments. If you’re an author who just (in the past month or so) received an offer from a journal, feel free to sound off as well.

I’d be interested in what authors put in their cover letters. Obviously, a description of the submission, but at what length? Does it really matter that one details in the cover letter how the submission differs from existing scholarship?